For many years I have advocated the use of an ice cube or two in the everyday wines we drink during the months of summer, that including easy-going whites, roses and even light- to medium-bodied reds. True..not for Chateau Latour, good Champagne or fine Burgundy whites, but I'm all for it with the simpler things of life. How do the rest of us feel about dropping a few ice cubes into our everyday wines?

I did think those volcanic rock "ice cubes" <might> be an option for such situations - at least not watering down the wine. However on reflection, I'd rather not have anything in the glass but the wine.

If the object is to have a cool drink, why not? While I wouldn't want to adulterate fine wines, what is the problem with cooling down a quaffing wine in this way? Why not slice up a few oranges and lemons, and chuck in some bruised mint leaves while we're at it? A jug of wine cooler with lots of ice and a few fruity bits can be pleasant on a hot day.

Another old bush practice is to use port wine like a cordial, putting a little bit in the bottom of a glass and topping it up with chilled water. This can be quite refreshing.

(I am writing this with the heating system going full tilt. There's a clear blue sky out there, but the thermometer says 5.5 degrees. It's a chilly morning and I won't be reaching for the ice cubes today.)

Considering that I'm an advocate of the ice-cube system (as are some 20,000,000 French men and women and another 20,000,000 or so Italians), I voted that I'm all for it. Not often and not with fine wines but with country-style roses, super-simple Beaujolais or Cotes du Rhone, and even then with the wine more than usually chilled so that the ice melts rather slowly. Especially appropriate as well when travelling in Provence, Languedoc, part of the Loire, southern Italy or Greece when sipping the wines that come in carafes at local cafes.

I'm not a fundamentalist on this issue, Rogov, and I've written articles in the past pointing out that an ice cube in a glass of rosé or light white, in particular, makes sense for summer patio or streetside dining. The dilution issue does concern me, though, so I generally go with (and recommend) an alternative method: Stick your wine in the fridge for a half-hour or so before dinner if it's a hot summer day.

Widespread air-conditioning makes a big difference here for me ... before its advent, I would have been much more open to the idea of ANY cooling strategy.

No way! Ice ccubes will dilute wine, and depending on the quality of the water use to make them, they can also modify the taste of the wine, if only in a subtle way.

I also have a 'thing' about people that add ice to single malt Scotch. Usually committed by Sassenachs who know no better. Hell, it is bad enough when I see them stick a dram under the tap and pour away when all the poor thing needed was a few drops of water to awaken the nose and slightly dull the heat. Bloddy barbarians!

For any of those who know me I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I'm all for it. I say it's your wine to enjoy and do with it whatever makes you happy. On the other hand, it may also come as no surprise that I've never done it before and don't necessarily plan on it any time in the near future.

As an aside, I find ice cubes in general to make for clumsy drinking. Maybe I'm just too much of a spaz for them, but I can't seem to drink anything with ice without the ice blocking the drink from coming out, making me slant my glass too far until the liquid suddenly bursts past the ice-dam. The story always ends the same: cold lips and whatever I'm drinking--hopefully clear--splashed on my chin and shirt.

Maybe it is just me, but I prefer to drink wine that interests me as wine. If I just want something cold on a hot day, it normally isn't wine, nor anything else alcoholic if I have to accomplish any work later that day.

That means that I tend not to drink plonk - cheap wine meant to wet your whistle, not to pleasure your palate. Which means that pretty much anything I drink in the way of wine isn't of the sort of workmanlike quality that adding ice wouldn't matter, it is generally more interesting stuff that ice would harm.

I guess that if I were in the habit of drinking vin de pays just as as if it were water (as many do in the Mediterranean countries) I'd not give a second thought to adding ice to it.

I don't often do it, but I have and see no problem with it - I will even admit publicly to having downed a bottle of Blanc du Castel over ice once. I will also drink either bourbon or scotch over ice when the mood strikes (or, as is sometimes the case, the venue is too warm).